1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic equipment control apparatus and method, and particularly to an electronic equipment control apparatus and method which allow a first electronic apparatus to be controlled in the same manner as a second electronic apparatus that is of a different kind than the first electronic apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Video signals are mainly recorded on magnetic tapes such as used in the analog video cassette recorder and the digital cassette recorder. In contrast, for recording of audio signals, disc-shaped recording media such as the mini-disc (MD) are marketed as well as cassette tapes. Since video signals have more information than audio signals, tapes, which are of relatively low cost, are used in consumer electronic equipment for recording of video signals.
However, in recent years the cost of the hard disk has been reduced considerably and it is now attempted to record a video signal on the hard disk.
However, various interfaces that have been developed so far for recording of video signals on a recording medium are in many cases intended for recording of video signals on a magnetic tape. Therefore, to record video signals on a hard disk, it is necessary to develop a special interface for such a purpose, which causes a problem of cost increase.